The development of hydrogen carriers is required to store and transport hydrogen, which is indispensable for realizing a carbon-neutral society. In particular, the development of hydrogen carriers that do not require much energy for storage and utilization of hydrogen and can be easily transported is an urgent issue. We are developing innovative H₂-derived electron carriers that can extract electrons from hydrogen at room temperature, transport it in a solid state, and use it for reduction reactions at room temperature.

Electron reductants are used in a wide variety of current chemical reactions. On the other hand, hydrogen is mainly used as a hydrogen source, such as hydrogen atoms and hydride ions. If hydrogen can be used as an electron source, we can propose a new way to use hydrogen as an electron reductant. We have synthesized novel molecular catalysts that extract and store electrons from hydrogen and are developing synthetic reactions in which hydrogen is used as an electron source.